VBS

Sunday night our church building did a quick change over as the chocolate world of Wonka turned into the land of Moses and ancient Egypt. This is Vacation Bible School week. It is a lot of hard work for a lot of adults and a world of fun and adventure for the little ones. I have been shepherding a group of three and four-year-olds from song-time, to story-time, to game-time, and to craft-time. The kids say and do things every night that make me laugh.

One lesson was about how mean Pharaoh was when he wouldn't let the people go.The kids acted out the plagues that God sent to Egypt. They stuck red dots all over Pharaoh to represent boils, and threw wadded up paper at him to represent hailstones. One little girl said she thought we should try being nice to mean ol' Pharaoh and then he might let the people go. I think it's wonderful to see the innocence of a four-year-old who thinks being nice will overcome evil.



I took a little three-year old boy to the bathroom. He assured me he needed no help, then proceeded to lock himself into the stall. After doing what he came to do he was unable to unlock the stall. I surely could not crawl under to rescue him. I had to enlist the help of a near-by child to come to his rescue.

During game time one evening the kids were getting pretty wet. They had to cross a bridge over a small pool while squirt gun were aimed in their direction. One practical little fellow did not want to get his clothes wet, so he took them all off and ran into the water in his birthday suit. He did not understand why people were laughing at him.



I'm amazed at how much the kids actually learn during all this fun and frolic. While driving some of them home I hear them telling each other what they learned. They learn the Bible stories and songs and tell each other not to be afraid because God is always with them.

It is powerful thing for a child to know that God loves them.